Utica NY, Levon Wameling's-9 Month Old

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Utica PD: Nine-month-old missing since May 29

Utica Police are holding out hope for a happy ending to the disappearance of a nine-month-old boy. The child has not been seen in two weeks, however, police only learned of the case on Tuesday. YNN's Andrew Sorensen spoke with police and got an explanation as to what happened and where they're going from here.

UTICA, N.Y. -- Utica Police are putting all their resources into the search for a missing toddler who disappeared two weeks ago but was just reported missing on Tuesday.

Nine-month old Levon Wameling was last seen on Jay Street in Utica on May 29th, wearing only a diaper. The child's father did not come forward to report the disappearance for nearly two weeks.

Jevon Wameling told police he left the child on the porch of his house when he got locked out on the night of May 29th. He allegedly went around the back of the house to let himself in. He said when he came back, Levon was gone.

According to detectives, family members eventually convinced him to come forward.

Police haven't said if Wameling is facing any charges, but they say he is a person of interest.

"We obviously have very grave concerns about the child. First and foremost, is where this child? We need to know what happened. Wherever the evidence leads us is where we're going to go. If we find a crime was committed, then we're going to take appropriate steps to bring that person to justice. But right now, our biggest concern is finding this child," said Utica Police Sergeant Steve Hauck.

Utica Police say they're bringing in dogs to start looking for Levon on Jay Street and they plan to work out from there.

Anyone with additional information on the case is asked to contact detectives at [phone].

centralny.ynn.com/content/top_stories/668827/utica-pd--nine-month-old-missing-since-may-29/

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Search expands for missing Utica child

UTICA, N.Y. -- The search for a missing 9-month-old boy in Utica has been expanded. Levon Wameling disappeared two weeks ago, but was only reported missing this past Tuesday. He was last seen on Jay Street in Utica on May 29, wearing only a diaper.

Police say the child's father did not come forward to report the disappearance for nearly two weeks.

Jevon Wameling told police he left the child on the porch of his house when he got locked out on the night of May 29. He told police he went around the back of the house to let himself in and said when he came back, Levon was gone.

According to detectives, family members eventually convinced him to come forward.

The initial search was focused on the Jay Street home, but police said they are now also searching other locations. They are not saying where because they do not want it to compromise their ability to find the child.

The case has not been labeled a crime, but Jevon is considered a person of interest.

Anyone with additional information on the case is asked to contact detectives at [phone].

centralny.ynn.com/content/top_stories/668998/search-expands-for-missing-utica-child/

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Search on for missing 9-month-old boy in Utica

Jun 12, 2013 11:59 a.m.

UTICA, N.Y. - Police in Utica say they're searching for a 9-month-old boy who was last seen in late May but whose disappearance wasn't reported to authorities until this week.

Police tell local media outlets they learned about Levon Wameling's disappearance from an attorney for relatives Tuesday. The lawyer said that 27-year-old Jevon Wameling told him he'd left his son on the front porch of his Utica home late on the night of May 29 and went around to unlock the back door.

Police say Wameling said by the time he got into the house and opened the front door, the baby was gone.

Authorities say Wameling didn't report his child missing until relatives confronted him about the baby's whereabouts. Police say the child's mother was in rehab when her baby disappeared.

m.njherald.com/w/main/story/93564264/

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Jevon Wameling, N.Y. father, reported infant son missing two weeks after disappearance, police say

June 13, 2013

UTICA, N.Y. - Police in Utica, in upstate New York, say they're searching for a 9-month-old boy who was last seen in late May but whose disappearance wasn't reported to authorities until this week.

Police tell local media outlets they learned about Levon Wameling's disappearance from an attorney for relatives on Tuesday, June 11. The lawyer said that 27-year-old Jevon Wameling told him he'd left his son on the front porch of his Utica home late on the night of May 29 and went around to unlock the back door.

Police say Wameling said by the time he got into the house and opened the front door, the baby was gone.

Authorities say Wameling didn't report his child missing until relatives confronted him about the baby's whereabouts. Police say the child's mother was in rehab when the baby disappeared.

According to The Utica-Observer-Dispatch, police have been searching wooded areas for clues and they currently consider Wameling as a "person of interest." CBS affiliate WRGB reports that Utica police are asking anyone with information about the missing child's whereabouts to call 315-223-3501, 315-223-3503, or 315-223-3510.

m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?&pageType=general&catid=57589218&feed_id=999&videofeed=999&nb_splitPage=1

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‘My son Levon was found’: Police find remains of infant in Mohawk River

09/06/2013 17:43

Ever since 9-month-old Levon Wameling vanished more than three months ago, his father has said he had no idea what happened.

But after Levon’s father, Jevon Wameling, was arrested on burglary charges by state police Thursday, something happened to give Utica police the break that they – and Levon’s mother – had been hoping for.

By the next morning, state police divers recovered from the murky waters of the Mohawk River in North Utica a container with what appears to be an infant’s remains inside, police said.

Police are awaiting an autopsy to confirm whether the body is Levon, but a Facebook post by the baby’s mother, Amy Warney, suggested that she already knows the truth.

“Well everyone my son Levon was found in the water. I can do this,” Warney's post read shortly before police announced their findings Friday afternoon.

In a later post, she said, “Now I can put u to rest my love. This is not easy I feel empty in side y did this happin I love u so much babyboy mommy loves u.”

This latest development came nearly a week after Levon’s mother celebrated, with a balloon release and a park picnic, what would have been the boy’s first birthday last Saturday, Aug. 31.

During a news conference outside the Utica Police Station, police Chief Mark Williams did not reveal too many details. He declined to say what type of container the remains were in, where they were found in the water and whether anything had been done to keep the container submerged.

Williams also could not say whether it will be possible to determine how the baby died.

While the circumstances surrounding this baby’s death remain a mystery, Williams vowed to hold accountable whoever is responsible. But in terms of any possible charges, Williams expressed uncertainty.

“I can’t give you a timeframe for when charges may or may not even be filed. I don't know,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done on our end. This is still a very active investigation. I’m hopeful at the very least, that once we identify those remains that, first and foremost, we can bring closure to the family.”

In the meantime, Wameling remains in Oneida County jail on $10,000 cash bail or $25,000 bond after he was charged Thursday with entering the home of a family member in Oriskany last month to steal jewelry and money.

Levon’s mother was not at the news conference, but she did silently leave the police station shortly after with several people at her side. Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri then took a moment to comfort Warney with a hug in the parking lot.

If the remains are confirmed to be Levon, Williams and Palmieri offered their condolences to Levon’s family with hopes that this development will bring them closure.

“We were never, ever going to stop looking for baby Levon,” Williams said.

Police already had conducted several land searches in the weeks after Wameling first told police June 11 that he hadn’t seen Levon since May 29. Wameling said the boy vanished after he was left briefly unattended on the front porch of Wameling’s apartment at 748 Jay St., but he never gave a credible explanation for why he waited two weeks to report the missing boy.

Police searched wooded areas along secluded Barnes Avenue and near the Marcy home of Wameling’s mother and stepfather. They also spent some time at the Ava landfill in northern Oneida County and searched an area along Leland Avenue, but it’s unclear if that was the same area where the remains were found Friday.

Williams would not disclose if Wameling told police about the whereabouts of his baby.

But Anna Knopka of Frankfort, who helped with the Aug. 31 party for Levon, said that she had a five-minute conversation with Levon’s mother Thursday night that might shed light on why police conducted a search Friday morning.

“She told me that Jevon confessed to police that the baby died in his sleep and he buried him somewhere,” Knopka said. But when Knopka asked if Wameling had said where Levon was buried, Warney said that she didn’t know.

Because Knopka — who owns I-KAN-C-U-Images screen printing and vinyl cutting in Frankfort — had only met Warney fewer than two weeks ago when she was asked to help with the party, Knopka said she doesn’t understand why Warney felt the need to immediately tell her about Wameling’s alleged confession.

The conversation then turned to Levon’s birthday celebration at which Knopka had sold T-shirts and balloons. When Knopka said she had checks written for the $245 raised at the party that were going to be sent to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, that’s when the conversation quickly ended.

Utica police officials would not comment on Knopka’s conversation or what Warney reportedly told her about Wameling.

m.uticaod.com/observerdis/pm_29842/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=JsClz6G5

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Utica Police arrest Jevon Wameling, father of missing baby Levon, for August burglary

Posted: 09.06.2013

UTICA -- Utica Police have arrested 27-year-old Jevon Wameling after an investigation into a burglary in the Town of Oriskany in August.

Police arrested and charged Wameling with felony burglary for allegedly going into a home and stealing money and jewelry on at least one occasion. Wameling is being held in the Oneida County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail or $25,000 bond.

Police say the investigation is still ongoing, and more charges may be coming.

Any information or questions regarding this case should be directed to Investigator Gaetano LaGatta of the New York State Police Special Investigations Unit in Utica at [phone].

Jevon is the father of missing baby Levon Wameling. Police stressed that these charges are not related to the search for Levon.

www.cnycentral.com/m/news/story?id=943298#.UipdUPfCv5Y

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Remains of infant found in Mohawk River

Story Created: Sep 6, 2013 at 11:04 AM
EDT (Story Updated: Sep 6, 2013 at 5:29 PM EDT )

(WKTV) - Utica police said in a press conference Friday afternoon that the remains of an infant were found in a container in the Mohawk River. No positive identification has been made.

Police began a search off Leland Avenue in North Utica for missing baby Levon Wameling on Friday morning. A large contingent made up of Utica police, New York State Police and a member of the district attorney's office were part of the search along the Mohawk River.

Seven state police divers also assisted and entered the water around 9 a.m. Friday. The remains were found a few hours later.

Utica police said they had received credible information from New York State Police on a possible location in the Mohawk River.

New York State Police also announced they arrested the baby's father, Jevon T. Wameling, on Thursday on a charge of one count of burglary in the second degree in connection with an incident in Oriskany in August. He was sent to Oneida County Jail on a $10,000 cash bond.

The Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office will make a positive identification on the remains that were found.

Levon was last seen on May 29 wearing a diaper on the porch of the Jay Street apartment belonging to his father, Jevon Wameling. The baby was reported missing two weeks later.

www.wktv.com/news/local/Police-currently-conducting-search-for-missing-baby-Levon-222678351.html

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Jevon Wameling pleads guilty to manslaughter in infant son's death

Utica (WSYR-TV) - Jevon Wameling has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection to the death of his infant son, Levon Wameling.

The Oneida County District Attorney's office announced the plea on Wednesday.

In exchange for his plea, Wameling was promised a sentence of seven and one half to 15 years in prison.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 20, 2014.

The District Attorney's Office says the plea is the culmination of a five-month homicide investigation that began when Wameling reported his son missing in June.

He initially told investigators that the infant Levon had disappeared from his porch two weeks earlier on May 29.

After protracted searches in several places throughout the Utica area, the baby's remains were found in the bottom of the Mohawk River.

An autopsy revealed that Levon Wameling had a one-inch skull fracture when his body was found. The examiners did not indicate whether the skull fracture contributed to the infant’s death.

The DA's office believes the child sustained a head injury at least a week before he died.

They believe the head injury led to the child's malnourishment. They believe the malnourishment led Levon's death.

The DA's office says that Jevon Wameling never contacted emergency services when the child was injured. Nor did he call 911 when the infant died.

The DA's office says he was reckless in his care, which led to the manslaughter charge.

www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Jevon-Wameling-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter-in/8CfoPxBIcEOPAviiHmYezA.cspx